For this week's edition of Hit Me With Your Best Shot, we stayed another summer in Italy. We didn't follow an American spinster this time but a young shapeshifter known as The Talented Mr Ripley. He was sent to Italy to fetch trustfund baby Dickie Greenleaf but he likes Dickie's life so much he fetches it for himself instead.

Outside the film's actual narrative, based on the famous novel by Patricia Highsmith (whose work is oft-adapted - The Two Faces of January is next) things were just as dramatic. The movie was a Prestige Event since it was Anthony Minghella's (RIP) follow-up to his Best Picture winner The English Patient (1996). It wasn't quite a slam dunk with Oscar, despite the pedigree and the quality (I prefer it to Patient, myself), though it sure was a thing of beauty. The Talented Mr Ripley featured one of the most impressive collections of young stars at seemingly simultaneous points in their careers ever assembled; the world had just fallen for Gwyneth Paltrow (hot off Shakespeare), Jude Law (hot off stealing Gattaca), Matt Damon (still glowing from Good Will Hunting), and Cate Blanchett (hot off Elizabeth) and writer/director Anthony Minghella (RIP) managed to corral them all for the same movie.

Here are the 17 images that the 18 wide Best Shot club went a little mad for. Click on the link for the corresponding article and refresh your screens since more articles are bound to come in (including my own). Next week's film is Disney's grand 40s experiment Fantasia (special instructions here) and you should join us.

--Mareko-- i've always thought that if GP was around when Hitchcock was making his films, she would've been his favorite blonde...

(and, off course, when she got pregnant, he would've cursed her out, as he did with his other blondes when they prioritized their family and kids higher than the movies.)

And he's not wrong, Hitchcock... It pisses me off when I think about some of the great actresses who lost interest in acting when they became mothers. Gwyneth Paltrow, Annette Bening, Michelle Pfeiffer etc and I fear the same will happen for Sienna Miller.

Kidman, on the other hand, shows no sign of slowing down, even though she's got two little ones. God, I love her (even though her kids maybe won't some day!).